- Howard Stern said unvaccinated Americans should be denied hospital access.
- Stern called for vaccinations to be mandatory.
- A recent CDC report found that those unvaccinated were 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19.
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Radio host Howard Stern said people who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are "idiots" and called for vaccinations to be mandatory.
"When are we gonna stop putting up with the idiots in this country and just say it's mandatory to get vaccinated? F— 'em. F— their freedom. I want my freedom to live," Stern said on his SiriusXM program on Tuesday. "I want to get out of the house already. I want to go next door and play chess. I want to go take some pictures. This is bull—-."
There is no universal vaccine mandate, but on Thursday President Joe Biden did mandate vaccines for federal employees and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandated large employers require vaccinations or weekly testing.
-Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) September 9, 2021
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released on Friday said that unvaccinated Americans were 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 compared to those who got their shots.
Stern was especially frustrated that unvaccinated Americans were filling up hospitals across the country.
"The other thing I hate is that all these people with COVID who won't get vaccinated are in the hospitals clogging it up," he said. "So like, if you have a heart attack or any kind of problem, you can't even get into the ER. And I'm really of mind to say, 'Look, if you didn't get vaccinated [and] you got COVID, you don't get into a hospital.'"
"Go f--- yourself," Stern added. "You had the cure and you wouldn't take it."
Dr. Nicole Linder, chief hospitalist at OSF St. Francis Hospital Medical Group in Escanaba, Michigan, is urging people to get vaccinated and shared a story of a patient she named "Kathy" who had "adamantly" refused the vaccine and had contracted the virus. Linder said "death is imminent" for Kathy.
The lack of ICU beds has meant some people suffering from emergencies can't get care. An Alabama man died after he suffered a cardiac arrest and was not able to find an ICU bed in 43 hospitals across three states.
The rise in cases among the unvaccinated has also prompted a doctor in South Miami, Florida, to largely stop treating unvaccinated patients.
Dr. Linda Marraccini said she'd stop seeing unvaccinated patients starting September 15 to lower the risk of exposure to her immunocompromised patients.
"It's not fair for people who are unvaccinated to harm other people," Marraccini told Newsweek.